District 9 Tops at Weekend Box Office With 37.4 Million

The Neill Blomkamp-directed/Peter Jackson-produced sci-fi film District 9 topped expectations for the weekend, grossing an impressive $37.35 million from 3,049 theaters (for a PTA of $12,251). The $30 million-budgeted film held off G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra which fell 59% with a second place $22.32 million from 4,007 theaters ($98.58 million cume; $188.19 million worldwide) and The Time Traveler’s Wife, which opened its first weekend with a respectable $18.62 million from 2,988 theaters.

Rounding out the top five was Julie & Julia in fourth place, down two spots and 40% from the week prior with $12.06 million ($43.34 million cume) from 2,354 theaters and G-Force also down two spots and 30% to fifth place with $6.92 million ($99.06 million cume) from 3,065 theaters.

Other new wide releases included Summit Entertainment’s Bandslam which flopped, grossing just $2.23 million (#13) from 2,121 theaters, the Paramount Vantage R-rated comedy The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard debuted in sixth place with $5.64 million from 1,838 theaters, while director Hayao Miyazaki’s animated film Ponyo came in ninth place with a $3.59 million from 927 theaters (theater count was a record for a Miyazaki film). The Japan-based animated hit has now grossed an impressive $187.48 million worldwide.